A training ground for my Chelsea stars of the future

Before thousands of keen gardeners surge through the gates of the Chelsea Flower Show at 8am on Tuesday, one of the world's most sought-after garden designers will be chewing his fingernails.

After spending months working on a show garden for Laurent-Perrier, Tom Stuart-Smith will be hoping that his creation has bagged a coveted Royal Horticultural Society gold medal.

'I'd be really upset if the judges gave it a bronze, silver or silver-gilt medal because I've never won anything but gold,' says Tom, 50, one of the most successful designers in Chelsea's 87-year history.

Growing for gold: Part of Tom Stuart- Smith's garden in Hertfordshire

Since making his debut at the show, he has won seven golds - his first was in 1998 with a garden for fashion house Chanel. Tom has also landed the prestigious Best in Show Award three times.

Given such an impressive record, you would expect Tom's own garden to be pretty special. Fortunately his four-acre plot at Bedmond, Hertfordshire, lives up to its billing.

Surrounding a converted 17th Century barn which he shares with his wife Sue, 49, daughter Rose, 22, and sons Ben, 20, and Harry, 17, the garden is divided into different areas by neatly clipped hedging. You will also find a Mediterranean-style courtyard, verdant lawns, a woodland garden and herbaceous perennials in beds and in borders.

Beyond the main garden is a wilder area that merges seamlessly into the surrounding landscape. Enjoying great views over rolling countryside, it includes a wildflower meadow studded with cowslips and Narcissus 'Pheasant's Eye', a lateflowering daffodil.

Sought-after: Tom, one of the most successful designers in Chelsea's 87-year history, has been a landscape architect for 27 years

The property has been completely transformed since Tom and Sue took it over in 1986. 'The house was derelict and on the verge of falling down. It was set within a 50-acre wheat field with no garden - the only plant was a dying elder tree,' recalls Tom, who has been a landscape architect for 27 years. His works include the Queen's Jubilee Garden at Windsor Castle, the vast landscape around the bicentennial glasshouse at RHS Wisley, and the breathtaking Italianate parterre at Trentham Gardens, Staffordshire.

'Our garden developed slowly,' he says. 'To begin with we had a 10ft strip of grass around the barn that the kids used to play on. Pockets of land were added whenever we had any money to spare.' The garden is now so large that Tom employs a full-time gardener to look after it.

Beyond the paved terrace is a 120ft rectangular area split into three connected, yet contrasting spaces. The first consists of a wide grass path running down the centre with borders on either side backed by yew hedges. Dominated by white, lilac and purple tulips in May, the borders billow with veronicastrum, cardoons and grasses in summer.

In the second space are three square beds surrounded by low box hedging and columns of yew, underplanted with nepeta, lavender, kale and purple erysimum.

In the third area is a 60ft lawn partially enclosed by 10ft hornbeam hedges. Nearby is a woodland garden where epimediums, asarum, symphytum and other shade-loving perennials thrive. From here, a grassy path snakes its way past large beds crammed with sedum, euphorbia and hundreds of other desirable plants, such as foxtail lilies (Eremurus 'Joanna').

So does his plot provide inspiration for the Chelsea show gardens? 'Not in a design sense, but I might decide to use a certain plant because it does well here. For example, Cenolophium denudatum is exactly the kind of plant I like so I'm including it this year,' Tom says.

While Tom is keeping his fingers crossed that he will bag another gold medal, he has already decided to miss next year's show.

'Designing a show garden is allconsuming. I've already made a pact with the family - I don't think they'd forgive me if I changed my mind,' he says.

Tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show have sold out, but coverage starts tonight on BBC1.

THIS YEAR'S SHOWSTOPPERS ARE:

Pick of the bunch: 'Lily Allen', 'Beatrix Potter', and 'Sweet Clare'

The Chelsea Flower Show is renowned as a launch pad for new products and plants. Here's my pick for 2010:

A vigorous Asiatic lily named after pop star Lily Allen is to be unveiled by grower HW Hyde &amp; Son. It has large orange and black flowers and is perfect in a pot. Bulbs will be available from next spring. Pre-order at www.hwhyde.co.uk or call 0118 934 0011.

If you want a shrub with scented flowers, Philadelphus maculatas 'Sweet Clare' is hard to beat. Growing to 3½ft, 'Sweet Clare' has slender, arching stems and narrow silver-green leaves that act as a foil for masses of delicate, downward-facing white flowers with deep crimson centres. Launched by Hillier Nurseries (www.hillier.co.uk), it costs £10.99.